News » Early Music Concerts 2009-2010

Magnificat on the eight tones with a Magnificat written for the nuns of St. Cyr
Compositions by Diruta, Cavazzoni, Guilain, Cabezòn, Pachelbel, Nivers, Kerll, Frescobaldi, Hassler, Corrette and gregorian chant. Church of San Giuseppe, Vicolo San Giuseppe, Brescia (Italy)Friday, October 8th 2010, 9pm

Soprano Ellen Hargis will give three recitals with lutenist Paul O’Dette for the San Francisco Early Music Society in Palo Alto, Berkeley, and San Francisco on Sept. 10, 11, and 12. The program, titled “Wait! I’m Singing Now…,” will feature music of Strozzi, Kapsberger, Scarlatti, Cesti, and Piccinini. SFCV asked Hargis about her love of early music, the challenges of balancing singing and teaching, and what it’s like to work as an early-music star in a modern world.

Here is a collection of photos and videos found on YouTube from the Stocktadt Exhibition/Festival of 14-16 May, 2010. If you did not attend this year, plan on attending next year. Stockstädter Musiktage is one of the largest recorder exhibition/festival in Europe.

At the end of the 18th century, Vienna and London were the undisputed centres of piano-making, and home to distinct schools of piano-playing.

The beginning of the 19th century saw the rise of a new centre, Paris, which progressively eclipsed the other two. Nicknamed "Pianopolis", Paris in 1832 boasted more than a hundred and ninety-three piano-builders, many drawn from elsewhere in search of renown. Paris was a magnet, too, to young piano virtuosi ; it was only natural that Liszt and Chopin should be of their number.

The inaugural concert of the new group The Baroque Orchestra of Maine or 'BOOM' will take place on Friday, June 25 at 7:00pm at the Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono, and will be featured in two other concerts. This baroque orchestra will perform an all Bach program on period baroque instruments.

An opportunity to hear the finalists compete in concert in the second year of this new competition. Listen to their performances, then cast your vote for the ensemble which you think should win the coveted Audience Prize.

Our final concert of the 2009-2010 season draws on music from both the Western and Eastern liturgical traditions. In celebration of Easter, we are collaborating with the TACTUS Vocal Ensemble to present a selection of movements from Georg Frideric Handel's Messiah, a choral work by English composer John Tavener and several unaccompanied works from the Serbian Orthodox liturgy.

“Saturday November 28th sees us into our 15th season of singing with a concert dedicated strictly to Marian music and focused on the Annunciation. This is a true Advent program, with only a whiff of Christmas on the eve of the first Sunday of Advent.

“BEMF Orchestra opens the 09-10 season in Versailles with program by Rameau and Lully

On Friday, September 25, 2009, the BEMF Orchestra, under the leadership of Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs, made its European début as the first concert on the 2009-2010 season presented by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV), one of the most celebrated and prestigious venues for period performance in Europe. The grandeur of the historic Manège de la Grande Ecurie of the Palace of Versailles provided the perfect backdrop for this nearly sold-out concert of music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Jean-Baptiste Lully with guest soprano Carolyn Sampson (star of our 2007 Festival opera and subsequent Grammy-nominated recording, Psyché by Lully).